Connect to Community was proud to host its first Transition Summit on Saturday, April 11, at the Village Hall of Hoffman Estates.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Laura Owens opened the event with her presentation entitled “Transition and Employment First: Raising Expectations”. Laura is the President of TransCen, a non-profit organization based in Rockville, Maryland. She is also an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Past Executive Director of the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE). Laura discussed the Employment First initiative and the movement toward community integration and inclusion. She also talked about effective transition practices which should include vocational training, paid work experience, parent and student participation and inter-agency collaboration. Most significantly, she focused on the importance of employment and why it is essential as a means of increasing self-esteem, gaining status in society, and decreasing reliance on government supports. “We must believe”, Laura said, “that all individuals can and should be contributing members in their communities.”
Next up with a presentation entitled “Social Security Work Incentives — SSI/SSDI, PASS Plans and More” was Rockford-based Employment Consultant Wendy Partridge. Wendy’s prior experience with Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) has provided her with a wealth of knowledge about how employment and benefits are inter-related and inter-dependent. Wendy explained the difference between Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) as well as Medicaid and Medicare. She also discussed various work incentives including Impairment Related Work Expense (IRWE), Plans for Achieving Self Support (PASS) and Health Benefits for Workers with Disabilities (HBWD), each of which can be used to help make employment a reality for persons with disabilities.
Ending the day was a panel presentation entitled “Making it Work: Successful Employment Models”. We were honored to welcome five innovative parents: Matt Koupal, Laurie Jerue, Ann Myrna, Brenda Weitzberg and Janice Weinstein. Each discussed what has been their personal approach to making employment possible, in some cases for their own child, and in other cases, for many young adults. Matt and Laurie each started a single-employee micro-business (Shred-i-gator and Helper Girl, respectively) that was tailored to their child’s specific needs and allowed them to earn the work credits they needed to qualify for SSDI/Medicare. Ann capitalized on her daughter’s interest in doing craft projects and created Big Bead Jewelry, which allowed her to structure a job that was both fun and suited to her daughter’s skills. As the parent of a son with both Asperger’s syndrome and a university degree, Brenda and her husband created Aspiritech to provide adults with high-functioning autism the opportunity to be employed at a level commensurate with their skills. Aspiritech, located in Highwood, provides high-quality software testing to a wide-range of companies and employs 24 test engineers with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Finally, Janice described the creation of TotalLink2 Community and it’s commitment to the concept of Customized Employment. With the belief that employment in the community should be the first/primary service option for individuals with disabilities, TotalLink works hard to discover the Personal Genius of each job-seeker. This leads to the creation of vocational themes and a living resume, which are used to create a customized win/win for the job-seeker and the employer. TotalLink also provides on-going support for both the employee and the business, leading to a partnership for success.
Supreme thanks to our two event co-sponsors whose generosity enabled us to offer this event at no charge: The Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization (NSSEO) helped cover our speaker expenses and the Village of Hoffman Estates Commission for Disabled Citizens provided our wonderful venue, printed the PowerPoints for our attendees and provided invaluable assistance the day of the event. We can’t thank them enough for their support.
We were excited to offer refreshments purchased from businesses that are either owned by or employ adults with disabilities: Kando Bakery, Poppin Joe’s Popcorn and Have Dreams/ILoveSweets. They were a big hit with attendees and we wish them continued success in their endeavors. Please support their businesses if you are able.
Finally, thanks to the Hoffman Estates Jewel Osco stores located at 1485 Palatine Road and 1069 Roselle Road for their donation of bottled water and soft drinks.
For copies of any of the PowerPoint presentations from this Summit, please contact us at ConnectToCommunityInc@gmail.com.